Category Archives: Backyard Science

Simple observations or experiments you can do in your backyard or at your school.

Altostratus clouds

Posted on 12/19/2006 by peggy

About two years ago, a group of graduate students on the Cloud Protocol PI team and I took the on-line GLOBE cloud quiz. None of us did very well, in spite of years of experience looking at clouds, and in … Continue reading →

Posted in Atmosphere, Backyard Science | 1 Comment

GPS: Conclusion

Posted on 12/12/2006 by peggy

Based on these measurements, following the GLOBE GPS protocol and similar averaging procedures improves the precision of position and elevation estimates by about a factor of two. Biases (being too high or too low) are harder to identify, but the … Continue reading →

Posted in Backyard Science, GLOBE Protocols, GPS | 1 Comment

More about GPS: Test for Elevation

Posted on 12/08/2006 by peggy

If you’ve used a GPS unit, you know that the elevation readings vary faster than latitude or longitude readings. Sometimes the elevation readings change rapidly. Thus, when I took my GPS readings, I wrote down the elevation, than I wrote … Continue reading →

Posted in Backyard Science, GLOBE Protocols, GPS | Leave a comment

More about GPS: Test for Position

Posted on 12/05/2006 by peggy

Those of you who have taken GPS measurements to characterize your GLOBE observation site know that the “elevation” on the GPS unit often varies a great deal. That’s one of the reasons the GPS protocol requires that you take five … Continue reading →

Posted in Backyard Science, GLOBE Protocols, GPS | 2 Comments

Taking GPS Readings — Part I

Posted on 11/29/2006 by peggy

In GLOBE, you use careful measurements to learn things about our environment just as scientists do. Also, some of the data you take for GLOBE is used by scientists. Finally, what you learn from GLOBE about how to take measurements … Continue reading →

Posted in Backyard Science, GLOBE Protocols, GPS | Leave a comment